Ashes of Malachor
by TitaniaSarys
Summary: Spoilers for end of season 2. Post-finale season 2 Rebels. What I think happened to Ahsoka during the blast of the Sith temple and how she escaped afterwards. Rated M for mostly blood and descriptions of injuries.
1. Buried alive

**Hi guys! I hope you're doing alright! Here's a new story, one that inspired me so much after I saw Rebels finale yesterday I just had to write it. So here it is. I know we don't know if Ahsoka survived, but I think she did, simply because I'm fairly certain we see her walking into the darkness during the last seconds of the finale, after the blast and all. So this story will be kind of short. Probably something around ten chapters like Golden Sunset on Florrum. I don't know yet how long it'll be, but it won't be really long. Hope you guys like it and don't hesitate to review or contact me, I love answering you guys, even completely random stuff.**

 **TS**

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"I'm not leaving you. Not this time."

That was all she could remember. Those two sentences swam in her foggy mind for what seemed like hours. She couldn't move, she had no feeling in her body and her mind was barely holding it together. But why? Somehow, the answer to that question seemed crucial, as if she needed to remember to survive.

Slowly, she started to remember. Piece after piece, the puzzle became complete and with every memory came more pain, both physical and emotional. Physical, because the more her mind cleared up, the more her body regained feeling and the hurt increased, making her frown and clench her teeth. She was fairly certain she cried out in pain a few times but there seemed to be no one around to do anything about it. Emotional, because the more she remembered, the more it hurt to realize she had been right all along.

She dreaded that Vader was Anakin. From the moment he had attacked them after the Siege of Lothal, she had been looking through the Force, searching restlessly for a connection, a clue, anything. She had her suspicions, especially after all those years when she had had more than enough time to meditate on what happened at the Temple the day the Order fell. But she had hoped, prayed even to be wrong. She'd even accept to be called paranoid or deluded if it only made the truth untrue. But of course it didn't. She knew and believed that everything happened according to the will of the Force. Then maybe Anakin's betrayal, the way he turned into a monster was the Force's way of punishing her for leaving the Order?

She needed to meditate on that, talk to Kanan and Ezra. Thinking about the two Jedi made her frown. Worried about them, she opened her eyes and coughed because of the dust that was covering her face. She couldn't see a thing and her body wouldn't move. Was she paralyzed? She hoped not. At least it didn't feel like it since she could feel all of her nerves, muscles and bones. She couldn't move because something was preventing her from doing so. She expanded her mind around her, trying to see through the Force. No living thing seemed to be around. Had everyone left?

She tried to move. Maybe if everyone had left, it meant Vader did too, so she wasn't in any immediate danger. She managed to squeeze her hands in front of her, next to her breasts. Placing her palms on whatever was pinning her down, she used every little bit of strength she had. Nothing budged. So she used the Force and dislodged the boulder that was on top of her.

She breathed in the fresh air but it was somewhat humid and heavy with dust, so she ended up coughing loudly and for a while. Once she was done, she sat up and looked around. She seemed to be buried in some kind of chamber, with debris and rocks all around her. A faint light was coming from above, so far away Ahsoka wondered how deep she was buried.

She remembered the explosion and everything that preceded and followed the blast. Kanan's injury to the eyes, her fight and brutally exchanged words with Vader, Anakin, her former Master, she didn't know what to call him anymore. She remembered Kanan and Ezra reaching the _Phantom_ safely with Chopper waiting to fly away. She had cut Vader's mask and saw his face, a shadow of what her Master had once been. She had tried to reach out to him, to make up for her departure more than fifteen years ago. Deep down, she believed there was still good in him, that he was worth saving. She thought she could save him. But she failed and there she was under tons of rubble.

Everyone else probably believed she was dead. She had seen the despair in Ezra's eyes when she had pushed him with the Force to save him and prevent him from sacrificing himself. How he had yelled when he realized she wouldn't make it and be trapped inside the temple, how Kanan had almost dragged him inside the _Phantom_. She thought about Rex and the last thing she had said to him during their conversation right before they emerged from hyperspace. "Then I definitely outrank you" was the last thing she had said to her dear friend and brother in arm. She regretted now that she didn't say more, that she didn't respond when he wished her luck. But at the same time, she was glad she didn't promise she'd be back. Rex could certainly feel that she might not be back, that's why he asked to come with her. She was certain that somehow he feared Malachor would be her tomb.

Ahsoka looked at the faint light coming from a hole in the ceiling or maybe that was where the debris stopped piling on each other. She remembered what happened after the walls of the temple went down, after Anakin had declined her help and fought her again. Their sabers clashed, red against white. The blast had come next. It was powerful enough to push them both against the walls of the Temple. Half of the floor had caved in and Ahsoka had fallen through it with the debris. Vader had probably stayed up there. Somehow the blast hadn't killed her whereas it seemed to have destroyed the Sith temple, making it collapse on itself.

As she wriggled from the smaller debris surrounding her legs, she winced and reached for her side. During her fight, she didn't feel the pain because of the adrenaline coursing through her veins, but now that it was over, she couldn't help but frown and wince at every movement. She probed her body to see the extent of her injuries. A couple of broken ribs for certain, a concussion from the looks of the blood crowning her forehead. Her back lek hurt really bad, it was probably heavily bruised and that would take the most time to heal. Her left shoulder was dislocated. It had been just bruised when Vader had pushed her off the edge, but it dislocated itself during the collapse of the temple. She grabbed her shoulder, clenched her teeth and put it back into place in a quick violent movement. A sickening crack echoed in the room full of debris and she cried out and didn't move until her breathing evened again after the sudden surge of pain. It still hurt, but it was better.

Her left leg took most of the impact when she had fallen off the edge. She hadn't felt it then because of the adrenaline, but she sure felt it know. Her kneecap seemed swollen and she couldn't even graze it without wincing so much that tears started to form at the corner of her eyes. She was in deep trouble. She didn't have food, water or bacta plasters or shots. She just had her sabers. She looked at the pile of rubble leading all the way up to the faint light in the ceiling. She could probably reach it if she'd figure out a way to move her knee without yelling at every move. But she was definitely not going to stay down there, Force only knew how deep. There was no way on the universe she'd let herself be buried alive.


	2. A new level of difficult

**Hi guys! Here's the new chapter! I just wanted to point out something I saw when I rewatched the finale and the episode when the rebels create a base on Atollon. There's a bird, at the end of episode 19, when Ahsoka comes to get Ezra and they talk about the creepy crawlers (Krynkas or something like that) and the Force. Seconds before the end of the episode, you can see the bird, a Convor, sitting on a rock. That's the same kind of bird that you can see at the end of the finale once Vader comes out and then this bird dives into the dust and then we see Ahsoka entering the Sith Temple. To me, the Convor has some meaning, it's not random. When Ahsoka came to see Ezra in episode 19, she said that when you think you start understanding the Force, you realize you don't understand it at all. That could be important to determine her fate (both if she lives or died and became a Force spirit). I hope she lives. I also read about Convorees that a cousin of those birds can be found on Shili, we saw some of these pink-green birds on Shili and Zygerria in CW, during the Togruta slaves arc. I don't think it's a coincidence their cousins come from Shili and one reached out to Ahsoka on Malachor. I think there could be a certain symbolic for the Convor at the end of the finale, but I haven't figure it out yet. Also I've read an interview with Filoni and he said Ahsoka's fate is uncertain (but we already knew that) and that we won't learn about what happened to her anytime soon, but it will eventually be revealed. So I'm expecting something about her whearabouts at the end of season 3 or maybe even season 4 (which frustrates me because I'll have to wait a damn long time). But anyway, those were just my thoughts about the bird.**

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 **SuperSaiyanJedi14: Thanks for the review and for reading this fic too! May the Force be with you too.**

 **Starwarshobbitfics: Thanks for the review. I'm trying to describe it just enough, with enough détails but not too much gore or gross. Glad you like this fic!**

 **Johnt12345: Thanks. We've already spoken about this (thanks for the great idea again) and yes, Ahsoka has a few tricks up her sleeve. Although I really see this fic as a survival thing. I'm just still hesitating about how much time it will take her to get out.**

 **Lux's Sister: Well, her injuries might be as bad as the once she had in Golden Sunset on Florrum that I wrote. As for Geonosis, I was thinking about that actually, so you'll see some similarities ;) Thanks for the review!**

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 **Hope you guys like it and see you soon!**

 **TS**

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Ahsoka tried to stand up but the pain forced her back down. Her ribs hurt, her knee hurt and more than anything else, her head hurt. She gritted her teeth and tried to lift herself up from the rock she was sitting on but the pain was unbearable and her legs couldn't support her weight at the time. Her arms let go and she fell off the rock, landing hard on a carpet of debris. She hit her head against a protruding stone and everything went immediately dark, well darker than the room already was.

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"I already told you, the blast was huge!" Ezra yelled. "Like a purple explosion of pure energy! She didn't come out and we had to flee. She… she saved us, distracted Vader…" Ezra ended his sentence in a whisper that only the person closest to him, which was Rex, heard.

The captain had accepted it all. He had a terrible gut feeling the day Ahsoka left. Somehow he had sensed she would be in danger, even wouldn't come back. He remembered all the times she had disappeared during the Clone Wars, either kidnapped or wounded and it hurt him to think that it was the last time. That this time, he wouldn't get to see her smile at him, nor would he hear her sassy remarks about how she could take care of herself.

Ezra had yelled at Sato in the command room on Atollon at the Rebel base. Since the Padawan had been the only human able to see what happened, he had been forced to give a full report right after they came back from Malachor and had even been asked to come back on specifics now and then. It was his fifth time in the room in the last couple of days. The whole pressure, being deceived by Maul, connecting with the Dark Side through the Sith Holocron, Kanan's blindness and now Ahsoka's loss, it was too much. The boy had snapped.

Rex had put his hand on the boy's shoulder, knowing very well how he felt. Losing Ahsoka had been tough on all of them. Rex first, because, like he had said when he met Ezra, he had fought by the Commander's side from the battle of Christophsis to the siege of Mandalore. He had seen her grow up, evolve and become wiser and more powerful than he would have ever imagined. The fact that she had managed to keep up with Vader in a lightsaber dual was proof of that. He had mourned her alone, in his quarters. At first he simply cried when no one was watching, then he drank and finally joined the others when his mind was made up. He only spoke well of her, told the other rebels at the base stories about her, how brave she was, how greatly she fought for what she believed was right, even when she was just a teenager. This way, he could keep her memory alive and make her a hero. Because to Rex, that was exactly what she was.

The Ghost crew suffered as well. Ezra had cried the whole way back to Atollon and even days after that, allowing only his crew members to be with him. He didn't speak much since Malachor, but always listened when Rex told stories about Ahsoka, although the boy's eyes brimmed with tears at the mention of the Togruta that he had considered as a Master. To Ezra, Ahsoka had been a role model, another teaching figure in his life alongside Kanan. She had explained to him how the Order was before it was destroyed when Kanan refused to do so. Her knowledge had amazed him and how wise she seemed to be. Her skills in general, he had realized on Malachor, were greater than he thought. He hated himself for not pushing it, not running after her when she had stopped him with the Force. He blamed himself for her death.

Of course, every other member of the crew had told him it wasn't his fault. Especially Kanan who said that if it was someone's fault, it was his. The loss of his sight took a great toll on him, but thanks to Hera, he seemed to slowly return to a normal routine. Well, his routine will never be anything like before, but Kanan was getting better.

Hera had suffered too by learning everything that transpired on Malachor. Because of Kanan's injury and Ezra's change, but also because of Ahsoka. After all, she had been the first one to meet Fulcrum, she had corresponded with the Togruta for months, ran errands, took missions, shared intel. They were close and it wounded the Twi'lek to think her ally wouldn't be coming back. Sabine and Zeb didn't spend so much time with Ahsoka but were still hurt to learn she gone. Even Chopper stopped being his obnoxious self for a while.

Commander Sato and the other rebels on Atollon knew Ahsoka pretty well. Some more than others, but the Togruta had been part of the Rebellion since day one, organizing everything with Bail Organa, creating the rebel cells. Sato had spent numerous meetings by her side, seeking her experience and wisdom for advice. Just like Rex, she was a powerful ally and losing her was a hard blow for the rebellion.

The room fell silent after Ezra spoke and everyone lowered their heads. Rex was about to propose they celebrate her somehow, maybe have a ceremony or something even if they couldn't bury her body or spread her ashes, but he thought against it. It was too soon for everyone, even himself.

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When Ahsoka came to, nothing had changed. She was still trapped in that room with tons of debris, she was still hurt if not more but at least the faint light still shone on the ceiling. It wasn't enough to light the whole room, it simply lit the top of the column formed by the debris, as if showing her what she had to do next.

She tried to sit up but was immediately swept by a wave of nausea and she heaved several times. She then assessed her new head injury and winced. Blood had formed a pool under her head while she was out. From the amount of it, she guessed she had been unconscious for at least three or four hours. When she finally managed to sit up without being sick, she pressed her fingers to her forehead. They came back red. She had reopened her wound, cracking the dry blood that had caked above her headdress and it was now dripping on her right lek. She touched her skin, even though it hurt and realized there was a cut near her right montral. If she could find a piece of clothing or something…

She looked at her legs. Part of her pants was torn. She looked at her swollen left knee and grabbed the upper part of her boot, the diamond shaped protection. She tried to detach it to free her knee and give it more space since it was swollen, but she couldn't move it and it just hurt. Instead, she looked for her lightsabers. She remembered she had the reflex of sheathing them back and attaching them to her belt when she had ruptured the contact with Vader, feeling the blast was coming. She reached for her shoto and ignited it. She managed to cut her knee protection off and instantly sighed when her knee was free. It still hurt, but a little less when she moved.

Ahsoka then tore part of her pants from her right leg, the one that seemed rather unharmed except for a couple of cuts and bruises she could see forming on her orange almost ghostly skin. Once she had a long enough piece of fabric, which had required her to take her boot off and cut almost the entire sleeve off, she tied it as best as she could around the place that was bleeding under her montral. She did a light knot and a little bit of extra fabric hung loosely at the side of her face so she cut it and used the remaining cloth to bandage her back lek, again as best as she could since it was very sensitive.

She then used her shoto to look around. The white light seemed almost eerie in the darkness and something was shining not very far from her position. There was no way she could put weight on her wounded leg, not with her knee busted like that. So she rolled on her side, still wincing, and crawled while trying not to injure herself more because of all the debris littering the floor.

It took her forever to crawl to the shiny thing. When she moved very slowly, the pain was bearable but just barely. It was probably the worst situation she had ever been in. She didn't remember being that hurt in her life, even when she had been shot on Onderon or poisoned on Naboo it hadn't hurt that much. She lowered her shoto and looked at the shiny thing in front of her, so close she could see all the details of the thing. It was a blue saber crystal, the same kind she had once possessed and used to make her first lightsaber. Next to it were other saber parts, wires, couplers, bolts, bits of metal and a handle. She immediately recognized it as the remains of Ezra's lightsaber. It had probably fallen with her during the collapse. The Padawan had once showed her his good work, so proud of himself. She had never seen a design like that and somehow, it suited Ezra. She bit her lips as she collected the pieces. She knew just what to do with them.

She cut a bit more fabric from her right pants sleeve, leaving her knee and half of her thigh bare and made a makeshift bag out of it. She put all the pieces in it and attached it to her belt, hoping it wouldn't fall off. She then brought her gloved hand in front of her, the right one since the left hurt when she moved it because of the previously dislocated shoulder. But she couldn't make a sling because it would hinder her movements too much. She pressed a few buttons on her dark grey gloves, using her left hand just enough to hold the shoto to have some light. But she couldn't reach anybody, couldn't even send a signal. Maybe the blast had somehow shortcut all electronic devices?

She had no idea, but she wasn't going to stay there, at the bottom of this hole, to find out. She looked up at the faint light again. It seemed to be her only way out. And that climb would be damn hard to make with all her injuries. She had to move. She had approximately three days before thirst would kill her. A good twenty-five to thirty before it would be hunger. But if she bled out, it would be quicker than that. She could also run out of air, which gave her the more reason to climb out. She had no idea how she'd get off this rock, but she was determined to live another day.

The more she thought about escaping, the more the Force was present but a darker kind than the one she was used to. Everything seemed heavier, more violent and extreme, more vivid also. She could smell her own blood, the copper stench harassed her and voices erupted in the darkness. Hissing voices that whispered things she didn't understand but made her dizzy. She couldn't pass out again, she had already lost too much time, maybe even an entire rotation or two which diminished her chances of survival. That's when she remembered she was at the heart of a Sith temple and things took on a new level of difficult.


	3. Get out

**Hi guys! Here's the new update! Sorry it's been so long. This story won't be too long, I think another two or three chapters and it'll be it. Hope you'll like it and see you soon. Also, thanks a lot for your reviews!**

 **TS**

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Ahsoka winced as she pushed herself up on her feet. She was forced to lean forward because she swayed for a moment, the dizziness clouding her mind. The voices she could hear didn't make it any easier but somehow, it gave her a new surge of energy. Some kind of last resort adrenaline, she was searching deep into her reserves. She needed to get out of this hole and fast.

She summarized her most pressing injuries in her head in order not to forget about them in her climb because if she hurt them somehow, she could fall back down all the way to the place where she was now. Her left arm was weaker because of her previously dislocated shoulder. She knew that she shouldn't move it at all, even less do climbing, but her survival was at stack and she didn't hide from the Empire for fifteen years to die at the bottom of a Sith temple she had no idea existed in the first place. So she tried to remind herself to put most of her weight on her right side. Her left knee was swollen, dangerously swollen, the kind that would probably need surgery. The worst thing about it was that she hadn't the slightest idea what was wrong with it despite that it hurt. She wondered if it was some kind of internal infection. Then there were the wounds on her head, her concussion and her lekku. It was probably because of those that she had the feeling the room was spinning.

But she had to get out of there. She looked up at the source of light and realized it was the bare sky. Somehow, when the temple had caved in, the roof had been destroyed. She didn't know what was left up there, but she hoped that some of the Tie-fighters were still around. And in a good enough shape to fly because if all electronics were dead, that meant she wouldn't be able to transmit a signal either. Or fly. She bitterly chased away those thoughts. She wouldn't know unless she got up there so she grabbed the first debris.

The good thing was that climbing itself wasn't very difficult as the rocks and debris kind of piled up in rough shapes. She had climbed harder stuff before. Like the wall of the Citadel, that was a good one with the wind and the mines and the burning lava below. She smiled slightly at the good old days. Her right hand gripped the side of the lowest debris by her head and she placed her right foot in a crack. Once she had managed to pull herself up, she stood there for a few seconds, wondering what to do next. In other circumstances, she might have been able to do the climb in four or five Force jumps. But not in her current state when she could barely tap into the Force.

She heard the voices again and shut her eyes to chase them away but they were persistent. She had to ignore them. Something in their cold tones and voice inflations made her skin crawl and repulsed her profoundly. She could feel the Dark Side slithering in them and so she kept moving, fearing that if she stayed down there longer, she'd be corrupted.

She could easily stand just by using her right limbs, but she needed to use the left side too for the climb. So she slowly switched her weight from her right foot to her left and did the same with her arms. That's how she climbed for the rest of the way. Every time her knee grazed the rough surface of her makeshift stairs she winced. Every time she had to pull on her left arm to climb further she winced. Every time her back lek rebounded ever so slightly on her back because of her erratic movements she winced. She couldn't do anything without wincing.

But she climbed on because she wanted to survive. She wanted to see Rex's face again, she wanted to see Ezra, she wanted to see all the rebels. She wanted to be back up there, with all of them, fighting for what she believed was right. She wanted to resume her fight against the Empire, she wanted to conclude the things she had done during those fifteen years that unfortunately very few people knew about. She wanted to feel the breeze of the wind on her cheeks, she wanted to feel the warmth of the sun on her montrals, she wanted to hear the birds singing in the morning. She thought that it was kind of ironic, that in the moment she was in danger, that all that mattered was survival and when her life hung by a thread, she wanted all those simplest things. At this point, she was almost begging for just another day.

And somehow, when she was thinking about all those joyful and beautiful things, the voices receded into the shadows. The light pouring into the hole was shining more and more on her face, but she couldn't quite tell if it was the sunlight or some kind of lighting in the temple that miraculously was still intact. She just climbed towards the light, higher and higher, ignoring the height that grew every second under her feet. She didn't look down even once.

She kept her friends' faces in her memory, right up on her eyelids so she could see them whenever she closed her eyes to rest just for a few seconds. It kept her going and she pushed her body to its limits. The pain slowly became part of her reality, like some kind of soundtrack that kept throbbing every now and then. It still hurt, but she slowly got used to it as the hours past.

She had no idea how much time it took her to climb through the debris. All she knew was that, when she finally pierced the surface and her head and chest appeared from out of the hole and into the white light pouring down on her, she inhaled deeply as if she hadn't breathed during the entire climb. She managed to somehow get her legs out of there and lay on the edge, on her back looking at the sky.

Because that really was the sky right above her head, more beautiful that she had ever seen. Just the sight of the slightest clouds strolling mindlessly around the blue brought tears to her eyes and she let it all out. She cried her pain, she cried her joy. She cried her fears and she cried her relief. She cried her pride and she cried her insecurities. She cried her heart out and the sun healed her scared soul.

She laid there for a while, the sun caressing her cheeks, the warmth of it drowning her body in a pleasant lullaby. The face of her friends remained at the bottom of her eyelids, just one blink away. She didn't know how much time she stayed like that, but she was sore when she sat up. Her broken ribs reminded her that it was time to move. The sky's color told her that it was the middle of the day. Which meant she had at least spent the night inside that hole. She was fairly certain it was more than that and she would bet her headdress that at least two days had gone by. The others probably thought her dead and had reached the base safely by now. She smiled at that. There was a long way to go for both Kanan and Ezra, but at least, they were safe. She had made sure of that when she had pushed Ezra out of the way.

She took a few steps to take a look around. Just as she thought, the ceiling had also caved in but not enough to take all the planet's surface with it. There was just a huge hole above her head, almost like a crater, as if the planet had been pierced with a giant needle and everyone could now see what was underneath the surface. All around her, the temple was in rubble and darkness. Pillars had fallen, rocks had been thrown to the sides, and everything was just like on a battlefield. But farther away, in the distance, the Sith Temple seemed to be just like it was before, so Ahsoka realized that the blast had been short-ranged.

She put her hand on her forehead to hid the sun as she looked for any sign of Tie-fighters, ships, mechanics, anything that could help her get away from that rock. She did spot something down below, something shiny and grey, most likely a piece of metal. She decided to see from up close what that was and made her way down the rubble. It took her forever because she had to be very careful with her busted knee. It seemed to be even more swollen than before.

She reached the shiny thing a few hours later and saw in the corner of her eyes that the sun was setting. Not good. She still hadn't found water or food. Her gaze was starting to get blurry and she shook her head to chase away the dizziness. She reached the metal and sighed in relief when she realized it was indeed a Tie-fighter. One of the pillars had fallen on it, slightly denting the roof but it had protected it at the same time from any other damage. Ahsoka couldn't see any other Tie nor could she see Vader. She guessed he had found a way off this rock on his own because she was certain he wasn't dead. She couldn't feel him through the Force, but she had had a good taste of his strength and he wouldn't die that easily. Although she hoped she had wounded him enough to hinder him. That was her only consolation but it was bittersweet.

She realized she could lift the hatch enough to slide in but she wasn't strong enough to push the remaining of the pillar off of it. She figured that the Tie-fighter could fly anyway, that she would be able to take off so she slid inside and started tinkering. It was time to get out.


	4. Back Home

**Hi guys! It's been sooo long since I wrote something about Star Wars and I'm sorry it took me so long. But here's finally the last chapter of Ashes of Malachor, yaaay I finally finished it. I hope it was worth the wait. I'll update soon Shadows of Remembrance, it's back on track again! Actually, my love for SW was never gone, but seeing Rogue One in theaters like yesterday fueled me up so much!**

 **I hope you'll enjoy this last chapter and that you enjoyed the story as a whole! Let me know what you thought in the reviews! I hope you're all doing fine!**

 **See you soon!**

 **TS**

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"This is Fulcrum, can anybody hear me?" Ahsoka said with as much strength as she could muster but nobody seemed to hear. She looked at the screen of her transmitter and saw only static. It still wasn't working; she had no way of contacting anyone. She had hoped that someone would be around Malachor and would retransmit her signal because she was fairly certain it wouldn't reach all the way to Atollon. But she couldn't even make the damn thing work.

She scanned the small enclosed space of the Tie-fighter. After some good four to five hours of tinkering, she was almost ready to leave. She had managed to light up the engine and moved the Tie forward, the metal scraping on the hard dusty floor, the noise making her head hurt even more. Once the column was off the Tie, she managed to seal as best as she could the hatch since it was dented and she didn't want it to open in hyperspace. She managed to find a few tools to work with but no supplies that she could eat, drink or heal her wounds with. She'd have to do without any of that in order to survive.

The first hour of tinkering had been very difficult because she couldn't concentrate, the pain becoming unbearable at times. She also had very little to work with and she saw her chances of escaping thin out. She had almost lost herself to despair. But remembering the faces of her friends kept her going through the tears and the pain and she had managed to fix up the Tie a bit. She hoped it was enough. She had also redirected all sources of energy to the hyperdrive and shields, leaving only the basic necessary features such as a dim light, the minimum artificial gravity and heat. She had also opened up one of her gloves and tried to hook it to the transmitter to strengthen the signal, but she had no communication anyway.

She got out one last time to check the Tie's exterior before climbing in it, sealing everything shut and firing the engine. It had a little trouble at first, but it worked and the Tie flew in the air. Ahsoka had trouble directing it and almost crashed three times before leaving the Sith Temple. Once she was high enough in the atmosphere and she could see Malachor, she entered the coordinates of Atollon that she knew by heart and jumped into hyperspace. While the blurs of blue and white strips covered her vision, she tried to make the transmitter work, tweaking and tinkering just like she used to do during the Clone Wars, trying new ways and switching between the electronic components.

It took her two rotations to get out of hyperspace, just like Rex had said. She spent most of that time sleeping but she didn't rest. It was just her body that shut off from time to time. She was only bleeding if she moved too fast and reopened her wounds which happened a few times. After the first rotation she couldn't move her left leg at all, her knee had stiffened and turned a disgusting shade of purple and green. And it burned. She was fairly certain it was infected and the only solution might actually be to amputate the leg but she didn't bother her mind with those morbid thoughts, she was too tired to do so. She just hoped she would survive. Her mouth felt like sandpaper and she could barely open it. Her lips were parched and dry whereas the rest of her skin was clammy with sweat. Her shoulder hurt whenever she just lifted her fingers and she had to clench her teeth to hold the wheel and not cry out in pain. Her head became a throbbing mess that often made her vision swam.

She couldn't find any comfortable position in the Tie so she just came and went from consciousness to dreamless sleep with having any notion of time. But eventually, she came out of hyperspace and could see Atollon. She was running out of electricity, out of fuel, out of strength. She was way past her limits, but she forced herself to hold on. She tried to contact the base and finally managed to do so after tweaking the device from her glove, thanking once again the person who built it for her years ago.

She could hear static, and didn't know if anyone actually heard her. She had trouble piloting the Tie and keeping her eyes open, fatigue threatening to overthrow her feeble attempts at resistance.

"This is Ahsoka Tano…" she said weakly, having trouble looking through the Tie's glass and where she was going. It was all a blur of colors and the Tie was in a pretty bad shape to begin with. "I'm in need… of assistance to land… I can't see and I have trouble piloting... Need… tractor beams…"

She didn't faint but she was very close to it and her vision dimmed, everything was half blurred around her, her head lolling to the side.

* * *

A rebel came running into the meeting room. He was making so much noise that everybody turned to look at him.

"A Tie fighter just appeared on the radar!" he yelled.

"Then what are you waiting for? Blast it!" Kanan yelled back, frowning under his mask.

"How did the Empire find us so quickly?" Sabine asked.

The rebel caught his breath before pursuing. "A message was transmitted through this Tie, with Commander Tano's communication signature, from her personal device. We couldn't hear very well through the static but we think it's her. She seems to not be able to land the Tie safely and it seems to be in a rather bad shape."

"Tractor beams," was all Rex said before he stormed out of the room. Hera, Zeb and Sabine followed him.

Outside, they could see the Tie falling slowly, zigzagging as if the pilot was fighting to remain in control. "Okay, here's the plan," Rex said, turning to his makeshift team. "We'll take that ship you used for tracking cargo," he looked at Hera who nodded.

They all boarded the ship and flew. Sabine, who was in the cockpit with Hera saw Ahsoka through the glass once they were close enough but the Togruta didn't seem to see her and didn't seem to be aware of the situation. She was also really hurt but she couldn't see much more from her position. The Tie was grabbed and slowly lowered onto a landing platform.

When Hera and Sabine joined Zeb and Rex, the boys were already forcing the hatch open since Ahsoka couldn't do it from the inside. She seemed to have passed out but was still breathing, even though it was barely. Zeb pulled out the hatch with one final pull, tearing the whole round piece away and Rex climbed in. He avoided touching the Togruta and checked for her pulse first. His eyes watered of joy when he saw she was still alive but also of sadness when he realized how hurt she was.

Ahsoka stirred when she felt his calloused fingers on her skin. She slowly opened her eyes but everything was more blurry than ever. "Welcome back Commander. You got us worried." She smiled when she heard Rex's voice.

"It's good to be back," she answered weakly before passing out this time for real. Rex assessed her injuries quickly, noticing the knee, her concussion, shoulder and other cuts and bruises. He took her in his arms as carefully as he could but it was no time to be gentle: she needed immediate care.

He placed her on the gurney that had just arrived and the best medics at the base took her for surgery. Rex and Ezra followed them to the operation room and Ezra's throat tightened when he saw Ahsoka. Her head was covered in dried blood, several pieces of clothing that had been soaked through and heavy dark bruises covered her once so pure lekku and montrals. Her clothes, all ripped and dirty, resembled those of a homeless person. Ezra shivered when he looked at her left leg that didn't look much like a human leg all swollen and purple. She also looked feverish and pale at the same time, her skin was clammy but her lips were dry.

They had to wait almost six hours before the medics were finished. The lead surgeon came out of the room while the others were finishing bandaging her up. He spoke to Rex who was the first one standing and awaiting the news.

"She'll live," the medic said and everyone sighed. Rex needn't ask what the extent of her injuries was because the medic continued. "She is severely dehydrated and undernourished. We've hooked her up to an IV for now. We managed to break her fever but that'll need to be monitored in the next few days. We also cleaned her cuts and gave her three bacta shots. That was the light stuff." He took a deep breath. "Her left knee was badly infected and the surgery took us hours. But we managed to deal with it without having to amputate the leg; she was treated just in time. We had to completely block it though so she won't be able to walk or even stand for at least a month. Then, we bandaged her ribs so those three cracked ribs will heal in a matter of weeks. Her dislocated shoulder has also been checked and she'll have to a wear a sling. Then, there's her concussion and her head in general. The cuts she received there are deep and needed a lot of stitches. We don't think there has been any major impact on her brain, although she will have to take it easy in the next weeks. She will feel weak and it's gonna be painful, especially her lekku that are heavily bruised. She might have some hallucinations or small seizures, but it should be okay as long as she's with someone she trusts. She's been through a lot, she needs you guys now."

Rex nodded and he went inside. Ezra wanted to go too and made a few tentative steps towards the door, but then walked away. It was Rex's time with Ahsoka, he didn't want to disturb them. Ahsoka was sleeping peacefully for the first time in days. Ezra found the old soldier still by her side a few hours later when he came to visit. Ahsoka was awake this time and although she was covered in bandages, that her leg was propped up on cushions and that she wore a sling, she looked a lot better than when they had found her in the Tie-fighter.

"Hey, Ezra…" she said weakly when she saw him. She smiled and although she was still very weak, it warmed Ezra's heart to see that smile. He had missed her.

"How are you doing, Ahsoka?"

"Good. I'll be kicking in no time."

"You won't be kicking anything, Commander." Rex smiled too although he was serious about her not moving until she was healed. Ahsoka suddenly seemed to remember something.

"Rex, could you bring me the bag that is attached to my belt please?"

She was wearing fresh clothes and her old ones had been discarded in a corner. Rex picked up the strange little bag made of fabric and handed it to Ahsoka who then gave it to Ezra. "That's all that I found at the bottom of the temple. I think it belongs to you."

Ezra almost cried when he opened the makeshift bag and found what was left of his saber. "You were dying and you still thought about bringing this to me?" He couldn't believe it and hugged her but stopped when she winced. "Thank you."

Ahsoka simply smiled. It was good to be back home.

THE END


End file.
